Page 397 of Born of Blood and Ash

Because no more would die. We would not fail. Our future wasn’tlost.

The edges of my vision turned silver and gold, snapping myhead back. “I am done with this!” A scream of rage erupted from deep within me,releasing the Primal essence—unleashing my will as I summoned the fallen godsand dragons. “All of this.”

All across the field, heads turned to me. Soldiers incrimson and dark gray froze as my hands sank through the grass and into thesoil, and eather whirled down my arms. Attes turned, and Phanosstaggered back, his bloody mouth dropping open when the eatherreceded from his veins. Silvery-white light drenched the ground, rippling outfrom my hands.

Beneath me and all around, the ground trembled and thenroared. Deep fissures appeared across the sacred land, spreading like veins,opening and spewing soil and rocks into the air.

A heartbeat passed.

Then two.

Thin, bleached-white fingers appeared in the clouds of dustradiating from the fissures. They dug into the disturbed soil, clawing theirway free. Fleshless arms appeared from the darkness. Hairless skulls. And theykept coming, a wave of bone and tattered tunics, bearing the sigils offorgotten kingdoms, their bony hands lifting ancient, rusted swords. The greathills deep within the forests shuddered, uprooting trees and shedding centuriesof sediment until foot-long, serrated teeth became visible. Wings of cartilageand delicate bones lifted into the air. The wind answered in a whisper, twowords that echoed over and over as an army rose.

Meyaah Liessa.

CHAPTERSIXTY-TWO

The army of bones held still as soilcontinued falling. They waited for orders.

They waited for me.

Their Queen.

“Protect what is mine. Destroy the crimson soldiers,” Ihissed, eather pounding into each word as my willpoured into my army. “Destroy the crimson draken andthose who came from the sea, then return to your rest.”

All across the field and into the forest, the army sweptforward, and dragons rose into the air, their bones creaking and grindingtogether. Their roars were deeper, more guttural, sending a wounded Diaval fleeing toward the eastern mountains.

The screams that came brought a smile to my face as I rose,essence crackling from my fingertips. Across the field, a wave of red wasfalling into the grass, littering the ground.

A flash of crimson-and-gold snagged my attention. My gazeshot to the ruins of the Temple. I caught a fleeting glimpse of Kolis’ssilhouette right before he slipped through the half-crumbling archway of theold Temple.

I walked forward, a burst of eatherrushing through me as Diaval dove through the thickclouds, releasing a stream of fire that pounded the field, igniting everythingin its path, killing both crimson and black soldiers alike.

Rage exploded in my gut. My vision narrowed on the draken, the realm fading into a red haze of fury. Instincttook over, and I inhaled, pulling eather from therealm. All across the field, tiny silvery dots appeared and pulsed. They racedtoward me in a flash, joining the crackling essence gathering around my palm asI stepped forward. Thrusting out my hand, a spinning, crackling stream ofsilver-and-gold eather erupted from my palm. The rawPrimal power slammed into the pretty-haired fucker’s underside.

The funnel of fire evaporated, and Diavallet out a whine of pain. His wings flapped wildly, and the eatherswept over his body before fading out. He veered sharply, his horned headswinging toward me. An outline appeared through the clouds, twice the size of Nektas, beginning to swirl and thin.

Diaval hovered in the air, lettingout a roar that shook the trees.

Smirking, I lifted an arm and extended my middle finger. Thewings of a bone dragon scattered the dark clouds.

Diaval twisted in midair, but thebone dragon was fast, tearing its claws into the draken’sback. I only winced a little at his scream of pain. My attention shifted backto the Temple. I shadowstepped to the archway.

In the shadowy interior, a crimson god stood before me. Hewas tall and slender, with hair as blond as mine and eyes the color of citrine.He smiled at me, and it was like Kolis’s. Fake. Cold.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The god bowed slightly. “Varus.”

“Oh. You.”

He straightened, the smile turning smug. “You’ve heard ofme?”

“Barely.”

Varus frowned.

I shot forward and gripped the god by the throat, thenturned, throwing him through an opening between the pillars. His shout ofsurprise faded as he plummeted to the field below. The army of bones would takecare of him.

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